Chef Stephen Lee loves a good burger. He reviews them on his TikTok, @inlimbo2023. “I’m always looking for that hidden gem burger,” he says. “Right now, most of the spots I’m hitting are gaming bars, because I always feel like one of these gaming bars has to have, like, a secret awesome burger, you know?”
What a coincidence. “Secret awesome burger” is the exact phrase I use to describe Lee’s In Limbo Burgers, a pop-up that operates out of the kitchen of Durango Social Club Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.-2 p.m., and at Petite Boheme Mondays and Tuesdays from 6-11 p.m.
Its menu is simple: three burger varieties, three kinds of fries, three different hot dogs. (Durango’s menu adds three breakfast burritos.) And the reason for that is simple: In Limbo doesn’t need more than that. His burgers are perfection. When In Limbo materializes near you, run to that borrowed grill as fast as you can.
A veteran of Esther’s Kitchen and Vegas Test Kitchen, Lee serves his patties juicy and cooked to perfection, with just the right amount of smoky char. The bun, marvelously spongy and covered with sesame seeds that aren’t just there for texture, does an admirable job of supporting the works, which begin with American cheese and can include jalapeños and bacon onion jam (double patty $11, triple $14), house-made pickles with grilled onions (double $10, triple $13) or house-made chili, grilled onions and pickles ($12, $15). Every bite is better than the previous as the flavors slowly reveal themselves, sometimes singularly, sometimes in concert. It’s like looking at a painting or listening to a symphony and picking out details. I don’t think I’m overselling it.
Pro tip: get the fries. Ranging from $4 (plain) to $7 (chili cheese), the julienne-cut pommes are near-irresistible, with a bit of umami-like magic in them. At Boheme, I get them with the fittingly named chocolate and scotch frozen cocktail Le Big Mac, a combo that approximates the classic fries-and-shake pairing on a gourmet level. They bode well for the In Limbo Burrito at Durango ($10): pork belly, salsa verde, eggs, cheese, house-made hot sauce … and tater tots. Lee knows his way around a potato. He knows his way around all of it, really, better than most anyone else. Must be all that TikTok research.
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